Every four years, officials with the West Kentucky Workforce Board — under the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act — must complete what is a comprehensive four-year local and regional plan, highlighting the key data points, successes and critical needs of the 24-county region.
During Monday’s Pennyrile Area Development District meeting, workforce leaders confirmed those efforts finished at the end of March, and that until April 30, the public comment window on the 49-page document remains open at www.wkworkforce.work.
Purchase Area Business Service Representative Mary Anne Medlock noted that state officials, every four years, look at targeted industries where workforce dollars should be concentrated. Updated sectors right now include construction, education, health care, manufacturing and logistics, as well as professional and technical services.
Medlock also noted this aligns particularly well with what west Kentucky and the Green River basin can offer and appropriately staff.
Furthermore, Medlock said 2024 data from the Kentucky Center for Statistics clearly details the West Kentucky Workforce Board watershed has:
+ A total population of 627,439.
+ A veteran population of 36,615.
+ A poverty population of 98,393.
+ A workforce participation rate of 54.3%.
+ A total working age population of 369,630.
+ Nearly 10% of the working age population with no high school diploma.
+ More than 50% of the working age population with some college experience.
+ And more than 30% of the working age population with at least an associate’s degree.
Other key notes from the 49-page report:
+ Four of Kentucky’s oldest population counties are located in the profile, as Hickman, Lyon,
Marshall, and Trigg counties have the highest percentage of people aged 65 and older in the
Commonwealth. Despite this, and in comparing employment now to employment in 2002, this number remains steady despite an aging population and reduction in birth rates.
+ In 2023, there were 18,977 industry establishments in the 24-county region, up from the 15,916 industry establishments in 2013.
+ And the average worker in the region earned annual wages of $51,985 during the second quarter of 2024. Average annual wages per worker increased 3.4% in the region over the preceding four quarters. For comparison purposes, annual average wages were $72,405 in the nation during this span.
FULL REPORT
